Live from New York with Oaktree's Armen Panossian - "don't reach for risk to deliver the right return"
Alt Goes Mainstream: The Latest on Alternative Investments, WealthTech, & Private Markets
Armen's Background and Early Career
Armen Panossian recounts his education, early healthcare interest, law and business training, and path into distressed investing.
Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
Today’s episode was filmed live at an event during a Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions RIA Council meeting in New York.
Armen Panossian, the Co-CEO and Head of Performing Credit at Oaktree, and I sat down for a conversation in a Brookfield-owned building with a group of RIAs in the audience.
Armen, who joined Oaktree in 2007, has been an integral part of scaling Oaktree to over $209B in AUM. Oaktree, a storied firm, particularly in distressed credit, was recently fully acquired by Brookfield, the $1T AUM alternative asset manager.
Armen has a wealth of experience across different areas of credit. He is the Head of Performing Credit, where his responsibilities include oversight of the firm’s liquid and private credit strategies and as a portfolio manager within the Global Private Debt and Global Credit strategies. He also led the development of Oaktree’s CLO business.
Armen and I had a fascinating and thought-provoking conversation. We covered:
- The evolution of Oaktree’s business.
- How the acquisition by Brookfield has helped scale Oaktree’s business.
- Why private credit is more than direct lending.
- The nuances of asset-based finance.
- The current state of the credit markets.
- How Oaktree has approached distressed credit investing.
- What Armen’s memo would be if he were to write a memo like his colleague Howard Marks.
- And, why his memo might be titled “this is not your grandma’s private credit” or “don’t reach for risk to deliver the right return.”
Thanks Armen and the Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions team for a fantastic night and Armen for sharing your wisdom and expertise with us.
Show Notes
00:00 Message from Ultimus, our Sponsor
01:59 Welcome to the Alt Goes Mainstream Podcast
04:02 Armen Panossian’s Background
04:22 Early Career and Education
05:42 Transition to Finance
08:04 Joining Oaktree
08:25 Oaktree's Early Days
09:25 Investment Philosophy and Growth
12:05 Balancing Pessimism and Business Building
14:49 Private Credit Market Overview
15:45 Core vs. Alpha in Private Credit
20:06 Public vs. Private Credit
21:39 Technicals and Fundamentals in Credit Markets
24:17 Valuation and Risk Management
25:22 Consumer Impact on Private Credit
25:46 Public Markets as Indicators
26:38 Oaktree's Historical Success
26:48 Howard Marks' Investment Philosophy
26:58 Market Dynamics and Investment Strategies
27:18 Opportunities in Life Sciences
27:58 Public vs. Private Market Solutions
28:27 Understanding Private Credit Risks
29:05 Credit Market Technicals
29:41 Fraud Vigilance in Credit Markets
30:07 Oaktree's Opportunistic Credit Approach
31:56 Rescue Lending and Sector-Specific Opportunities
32:37 Asset-Backed Finance Explained
34:52 Impact of Banking Regulations
35:24 Current Trends in Asset-Backed Finance
39:47 Navigating the Private Credit Ecosystem
40:50 Brookfield and Oaktree Partnership
42:09 Wealth Channel Investment Strategies
43:40 Brookfield and Oaktree: A Unique Partnership
45:45 Concerns in Private Credit
48:03 Advisors' Guide to Private Credit
50:47 Howard's Memos and Investment Philosophy
52:44 Evolving Private Credit Landscape
53:48 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.
A word from AGM podcast sponsor, Ultimus Fund Solutions
This episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus Fund Solutions, a leading full-service fund administrator for asset managers in private and public markets. As private markets continue to move into the mainstream, the industry requires infrastructure solutions that help funds and investors keep pace. In an increasingly sophisticated financial marketplace, investment managers must navigate a growing array of challenges: elaborate fund structures, specialized strategies, evolving compliance requirements, a growing need for sophisticated reporting, and intensifying demands for transparency.
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Visit www.ultimusfundsolutions.com to learn more about Ultimus’ technology enhanced services and solutions or contact Ultimus Executive Vice President of Business Development Gary Harris on email at gharris@ultimusfundsolutions.com.
We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.
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